Pakistan says it is halting air strikes against Taliban militants in the country, in response to a month-long ceasefire announced by the insurgents a day earlier.

"After the positive announcement yesterday by the Taliban, the government has decided to suspend the air strikes which were continuing for the past few days," interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said in a statement.

The minister's statement added that "the government and armed forces of Pakistan, however, reserve the right for a befitting response to any act of violence (by the Taliban)".

Mr Khan said the "government considers the announcement of stopping of violent activities by Taliban a positive development".

He added that since the government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif took charge in June last year, Islamabad had not taken "any unjustified action" against the Taliban, choosing only to react to violence rather than initiating any new military operations.

Rustam Shah Mohmand, a negotiator for the government, said the Taliban's announcement was "good news" and that it was likely the ceasefire declaration will lead to a resumption of talks.

Reacting to the minister's announcement on Sunday, political analyst Raza Rumi said the government was attempting to play a balancing act and had to match the Taliban's ceasefire "to ensure right wing public opinion does not turn against them".

"I think one issue is the government wants to appear as a peace loving political entity," Mr Rumi said.

"But deep down there is a desire by both parties to buy more time given the way the situation is unfolding in Afghanistan."

Pakistani military bombs Taliban hideout

Pakistan's military said it had bombed the hideout of a militant leader earlier on Sunday, killing five insurgents.

The target of the attack, Mullah Tamanchey, directed a deadly assault against a convoy carrying a polio vaccination team and security forces on Saturday in which 12 people were killed, the military said.

"The government is not going to tolerate any act of terror and any act will be replied to," a Pakistani security official said.

Hours after the attack on the convoy, the Taliban said they would observe a one-month ceasefire to try to revive peace talks that failed last month. It also called on other militant groups to observe the ceasefire.

A government negotiator said they were open to restarting peace talks as long as the Taliban and its affiliates honoured the ceasefire.

Peace talks between the government and Taliban militants began on February 6 but broke down after insurgents said they had executed 23 paramilitary Frontier Corps members in revenge for the killing of their fighters by the Pakistani military.

The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of militant groups, has said in the past that it is fighting to overthrow Nawaz Sharif's democratically elected government and replace it with a state ruled under Islamic Sharia law.